Explainer: What is herd immunity and will it affect the pandemic?

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Explainer: What is herd immunity and will it affect the pandemic?
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The outbreak of disease caused by the new coronavirus has raised questions about...

LONDON - The outbreak of disease caused by the new coronavirus has raised questions about a phenomenon known as “herd immunity” and whether it might play a role in how the pandemic progresses.

* For herd immunity, it doesn’t matter whether the immunity comes from vaccination, or from people having had the disease. The crucial thing is that they are immune. “When about 70% of the population have been infected and recovered, the chances of outbreaks of the disease become much less because most people are resistant to infection,” said Martin Hibberd, a professor of Emerging Infectious Disease at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.* With the new coronavirus outbreak, current evidence suggests that one infected person on average infects between two and three others.

* By reducing the number of people that one person infects — with social distancing measures such as closing schools, working from home, avoiding large gatherings and frequent hand washing — the point at which herd immunity kicks in can be lowered.

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